Thursday, April 21, 2016

Success! In a previous blog post, I wanted Andrew Jackson
replaced on the $20 bill. At the time, I suggested Frederick Douglass or Chief
Joseph.

Instead, the U.S. Treasury made a keen choice in selecting
Harriet Tubman. Born into slavery, she went back into slave areas thirteen
times to lead other slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad—a series
of routes leading to churches, barns, outdoor hiding places, and eventually to
freedom. She was nicknamed “Moses of her people.”

public domain

Don’t know why she was nicknamed “Moses”? Read the Book of
Exodus in the Bible.

If you want to discuss the politics of it, please do so off
this blog. Here is one site.

Best Short Story: “The Narrative of More” by Tom Greene and
“The Museum of Modern Warfare” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

I thought the best short story I read last year was “The
Narrative of More.” It is the fascinating account of what seems to be an
anthropologist studying a degenerate human colony on a planet. They live by
foraging and cannot build a civilization, not because they lack intelligence,
but because they are all habitual thieves and liars.

Since the Hugo Awards allow us more than one nominee in a
category, I also included “The Museum of Modern Warfare,” where a veteran has
to encounter old memories.

Best Professional Artist: Julie Dillon.

As I indicated in a previous post, Julie Dillon did a
slideshow of her work at Norwescon.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

So now here are some more pictures from Norwescon, that big
science fiction convention in Seattle I attended. Here’s the Dalek that Torrey Stenmark
saved me from.

That plant is in the background; it’s not a headdress. That’s
also a lesson for writing: do not let the background overwhelm what you’re
trying to get across in a scene.

One of the sessions was on how Roman legions fought. As you
can see, it was hands-on with authentic shields.

The fellow on the left was the instructor—very knowledgeable.
Below is the pagan army.

They’re pretty much just there to get slaughtered.

Here are some Medieval villagers.

NPC means non-player character. In other words, a character
in a game that is not controlled by a player—a character that is controlled by
a computer or employees of the game company. So they are drolly suggesting that
this is a video game, and the woman on the right is not an avatar of a real
person.

Medieval themes were very common.

The armor was not normally made of metal, but some of the
weapons were.

Here are Perseus and Medusa. These costumes were fantastic.

They were asked to do a fighting pose, though we know they
were allies. And if you’re really boned up on your mythology, you’ll know whose
head is on Athena’s shield.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

I went to Norweson again this year. It’s the biggest science
fiction/fantasy convention in the Northwest with a large emphasis on writing. I
saw a couple of familiar faces. The artist Julie Dillon was there.

She showed us slides of her fantasy art. I nominated her for
best artist in the upcoming Hugo Awards.

I was getting ready to take a picture of a Dalek when Torrey
Stenmark walked by.

This reinforced my previous theory that if you stay in one
place long enough, the whole world passes by. She reprised her floor costume of
Ms. Marvel from last year.

A new face was Adam Rakunas. He is the author of Windswept, a nominee for the Philip K.
Dick Award.

Although his paperback novel didn’t win, I rather enjoyed
his live reading of an excerpt. I thought I detected an element of Max Headroom
in his style, and when I asked him about it afterwards, he said that might have
been swirling around in part of his brain.